Home Distiller

I have a couple of propane tanks in the ground on my property.

It appears that a bee hive has been established under the access lid where the fill valve is located.

My Dad claims that bees will not set up shop below grade. And is inclined to kill the colony.
He says they are likely some kind of hornet (or the like).

But they look just like bees to me. I'm not killing them, but I sure don't want to pay for removal.

A bee man will come and git for nuthin,,,,,,if they are bees.

Recon bees will colonize below grade?

Look at pic of a honey bee and see if their same as ones your seeing http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=e ... af52b7e0b8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Oh yeah Tater.

Now I've looked twice.

They look like bees to me.

Hole on the access lid is bout 2". Can only see 3 or 4 at a time as they come and go. They let me get close, but they definitly fly with warning if i get too snoopy.

Got me on the leg good last week while cutting the grass. Didn't know they were there.

We had bees build a nest in a flower bed under a mini pine tree
It was in an abandoned animal burrrow

Hope they're not killer bees

How big of a colony is it? One thing I know about honey bees from hunting in the woods...you can smell em a mile away
Post a pic.
I have a friend who is an apiarist (bee keeper). I can show it to him and ask for ya.

I keep bees in Ukraine LWTCS... Without the proper equipment, mask, gloves, smoker, etc;, you stand a good chance of being stung...
The colony have left the hive, due to some problem with the hive, so they swarm and look for a new home...
Try to get a local beekeeper to come and get them, if he's really local chances are there his...

He will bring empty honey-supers (frames) and a portable brood-box to take them away in... Some Advice: Smoke calms them, sugar water feeds them and rain/cold/heat, pisses them off...
Sorry I cant be more help...

Let us know what happens...

If you're sure they're bees, don't kill them for Heaven's sake. The bee population around the world is being decimated by something, cell phone tower radiation, pesticides, disease, no one's really sure.

They're more valuable now than they've ever been. If you didn't need access to that hatch I'd say just live and let live. Failing that, find a beekeeper who will come and get them.

Larry, I am a retired (last year) part time bee keeper. More than likely what you have is a wasp we call the yellow jacket around here. They live "underground". Hurt like hell when they sting.

My propane man once told me he looked for propane leaks by watching were insects gather. That is what probably caused what you have to set up house keeping there.

Get you some Wasp/Hornet type spray and send them on to their heaven. Don't tarry on this especially if you have small kids running around. I have read of cases where people have been killed by yellow jackets.

Edit: I have been keeping honey bees on and off since the mid 70's, and have never seen or heard of them setting up house keeping under ground or as you describe. That does not mean that sometimes they do, but it would be a first for me.

Bert

I was thinking yellow jackets also - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I'm with you father william.

Bert we got lots of wasps and mud dobbers. Several different species in fact.

These lil fellers look just like bees to me.

Gonna try an get a bee man to come out.

That ain't them Tater.

honey bees would close hole up and cracks around cap with wax. also ya could set some sugar water near it and if honey bees are there they will let ya get a good look at them when drinking

Larry, this may sound bad to you, but go out there and let one of them sting you. I am not teasing. It will hurt a little, but if it is a bee, his stinger has barbs on it so it will not easily put out of your skin, but it will pull the bladder out of the bee. There will be no mistaking it. 'Bout the size of a small straight pin's head. After you determine that is what it is, take your finger nail or the blade of a knife, etc., and scrape the stinger out. Otherwise, it will keep pumping until it pumps all the poison out of the bladder into you. All bees die after they sting something or someone.

This is not as bad as it sounds. There are many people that buy or obtain bees just to sting an arthritic joint. There is some evidence that bee venom is good for this.

Oh, and it goes without saying: If there is no bladder after you are stung, it is not a bee.

Bert

ammo man wrote:All bees die after they sting something or someone.

Oh so morose.


Dang Bert,,,,,,,you mad at me

Larry, I sort of guessed you would not want to do the stinger test. Listen, in all seriousness if you can't get a bee keeper to come out and look, call your County Agent. I am sure you have them in your state. I seem to recall that you do have small children, and I did not make that up about people getting killed by yellow jackets (and even bees).

I know one poster said don't kill them, but I would in a New York minute. All you are looking at is trouble, and at the very least spending a lot of money. Bee Keepers are in business. They don't have time to come out and mess around with a small swarm of bees if that it what it is. He is going to stick you with a hefty fee, and in the end he will probably kill them anyway. It is not worth the trouble for him to try to capture a small swarm of bees like that. And as one poster said, they might be killer bees. That would be no big deal for him, but he would not want to bring them to his apiary to cross breed with his bees.

I know one professional bee keepers' fee. He charges $100 when he comes out to remove bees say out of the side of a house, and then $150 per hour thereafter. And he ends up killing them, but he does suck them out of the walls with a vacuum cleaner first.

Let us know how it turns out.

Bert

ammo man is right. Bees don't go underground to build a hive. If these insects are underground it's certain they are not bees. Ring your local bee keeper/apriaist and s/he will either remove them of fix them up with a petrol soaked rag NOT a burning one. The fumes will fix the problem.

STAY VERY SAFE Angry wasps, unlike bees can give multiple stings, and they will do it.

larry i'm in orchard country and get one or two stray colonys a year. i have found bee keepers in the yellow pages, the local ag office knew a couple, the lady at the feed store knew a keeper, and the orchards had list's of bee keepers. i've always found someone to come for free and in a timely fashion. on another note i always have a resident population of yellow jackets i leave them alone until they get to thick or they piss me off. cob
edit : larry are your propane tanks buryed in the ground or just in pits? i have seen both installations but the buried tanks cost a lot more than a pit set.

Mine are burried.

Way off topic.

Whats the difference between an orchard and a grove?

Wasps are way benificial to the orange industry we have down here.

BTW these are not wasps.

LWTCS wrote:Way off topic.
Whats the difference between an orchard and a grove?

Orchard is used in New England to describe a group of apple trees or cherry trees etc. Grove tends to be used in the south to describe a planting of citrus or warm weather fruits. Technically the two should be interchangable, but I have never heard of an apple grove. Around here, a grove is either a formal garden surrounded by trees or a hidden place of beauty deep in the forest...much prized by young men for its beauty and its beautiful effect on certain local beauties... ahem..
Its a good place!

africanised honey bees?????????

Yep Killer Bees http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE-WTzYD0Us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Belushi as a bee how good is that

think id be getin a epi pen you gona try aprithreapy an aint done it before.
you mite not have reaction from sting all your life but that dont mean you aint gona
tomarow. bees got diferent jobs that keep changein older they get. if you stingin yourself
i wouldnt be usein a guard bee id be usein a nurse bee both got venom one just
hoter than other.
think id be callin state bee man. chances are if you in african bee country they gonna kill em.


so im tole

goose eye, what you say is 100% correct. As your body gets older its reaction to bee stings changes in most cases. Personally back in my younger days 20-30 years ago I had no problem when I got stungs 20 or 30 times. Oh, redness and some swelling sometimes. However, some 7 or 8 years ago I got stung around 35 times, and damn, I had to take some benadryl tablets. I was beginning to get a bad reaction.

Bert

The arthritis thing is true. I let my bees sting me when it gets really bad. After 10-30 minutes I move freely again. But, you have to KNOW if your allergic or not first.

Good luck with the new tenants. Hope it works out for ya.